Four residents at a northwest Dallas assisted-living home overdosed on opioids and alcohol after caregivers left the substances unsecured, according to a lawsuit filed last Thursday by Texas Health and Human Services.

The agency, which oversees licensing and credentialing of assisted-living facilities, is seeking penalties of up to $10,000 for each code violation alleged against Avendelle Assisted Living.

Avendelle president Terry Hubbard, who is also named in the lawsuit, declined to comment. The suit was filed in Dallas County's 193rd Judicial District Court.

Officials received two complaints in April 2018 that an ambulance had rushed four people, all of whom had difficulty breathing and "altered mental states," to a hospital, according to the lawsuit.

The toxicology reports for the residents, all of whom recovered, showed they had elevated levels of opiates and alcohol in their bodies despite not having been prescribed medications containing alcohol or opioids, the suit states.

The patients had been staying at an eight-bed Avendelle home on Royal Lane, where Health and Human Services said in the suit that medication was kept in an unsecured locker and a caregiver had a bottle of whiskey in an unlocked cabinet.

Days after the residents were hospitalized, agency records show, inspectors cited Avendelle for policies that didn't "address the prevention of the diversion of controlled drugs" and for failing to ensure that residents had not been abused, exploited or neglected.

Inspectors found in July 2017 that the Royal Lane facility didn't properly dispose of discontinued medications, maintain food safety standards or test employees for tuberculosis, according to agency records.

Avendelle, which operates facilities in Texas and North Carolina, houses fewer than 10 residents at each of its locations in Dallas, Plano and Euless, according to Health and Human Services records.

Health and Human Services has cited five of Avendelle's seven facilities in North Texas for violations including failure to ensure that staff had undergone background checks and in-service training, and storing food at unsafe temperatures.

Among its requests, the lawsuit asks the court to require Avendelle to train staff on how to properly store, control and dispose of drugs and alcohol. It also asks that Avendelle relocate residents to a licensed facility if the agency determines that is necessary for the residents' health and safety.